Autographed ALIEN Vintage Trading Cards

As regular readers of the blog (are there any??) may know, I'm also a big fan of ALIEN, Ridley Scott's genre-making sci-fi/horror hybrid that made an action hero out of Sigourney Weaver and introduced H.R. Giger's creepy "biomechanical" imaginings to the popular culture.

The other day while cruising around eBay looking at Giger stuff, I came across an auction that caught my attention - a set of vintage ALIEN trading cards autographed by the movie's stars and creative minds. As the buy-it-now price was reasonable I pulled the trigger and eventually the parcel arrived. Here's what was inside, in no particular order...  
 

"The Steamy Peril"... really?!? Anyway, this card was signed by Yaphet Kotto, a well-known African-American actor who played "Parker", one of the below-decks guys who ran the Nostromo and the refinery ship. Signature is in black Sharpie.

His partner, Brett, was played by Harry Dean Stanton. He met a notably sticky end in the movie as well. Signed in blue Sharpie.

The wonderful character actor John Hurt played Kane, the crew member victimized by the alien facehugger. I can't make out the dedication above his signature though; both in black Sharpie.

The lovely and talented Sigourney Weaver needs to no introduction to genre fans. She signed this card in black Sharpie.

Tom Skerritt played Captain Dallas (my favourite character of course) and signed this card in blue Sharpie. Apparently a love scene between Dallas and Ripley was cut from the film. 

This is really what I was after - a card signed by the artist himself, H.R. Giger, in his distinctive silver marker. The contrast isn't great with the card but it's a nice signature.

Ian Holm (Ash) signed this card in blue marker. He sure creeped me out in his portrayal of the homicidal "synthetic" Company science officer.

This card was signed by director Ridley Scott in blue Sharpie. I'm a big fan of Scott's, especially his work in ALIEN and Blade Runner, two of my all-time favorite movies.

Veronica Cartwright played Lambert in the film and signed this card in black marker. The scene on the card occurs just after Ash tries to murder Ripley with a rolled-up porn magazine (really) and Parker takes him out, revealing Ash to be an android! Yikes!!

This wrapper was included with the set and I've framed it along with the cards.

Unfortunately the seller was unable to provide much provenance with the set. However, he's an active autograph seller on eBay with lots of positive feedback, and the cursory investigation I was able to do with some autograph comparisons satisfied me that the pieces are likely genuine. The seller noted that he'd picked the set up at a convention a few years back. I expect that the original collector assembled the pieces one at a time, likely by sending the cards to the actors to be signed or collecting the signatures in person at a convention.

In any case, they will look nice hanging on the wall in my office. Hope you enjoyed seeing them too!

Display Limelight

I wanted to post a few photos of my "Star Wars Corner" where I display my stuff. I know many collectors are interested in how others display their collections (I am) and it's fun to see what ideas people have for display. In the photo above, my loose figures are displayed in a glass case from JYSK that's similar to the IKEA "Detolf" case. From top shelf to bottom, I have the last wave of POTF figures (and boxed Landspeeder); the last nine SW figures along with the ESB wave; the ROTJ wave; and on the bottom, the boxed Cloud Car with my two MOCs (Toy Fair Leia and Leia
Endor) and some variants (matte grey IG-88, Taiwan Fett, one-stripe Death Squad Commander, smiling Lando, large head Han, cloth cape Jawa) and bootlegs (Mark Poon Rocket Fett and new Stormtrooper set). On the top is the box for my Palitoy Death Star, a recent acquisition that I'm very excited about!

Between the wall and the basement stairs, I've constructed a wall of three IKEA "Besta" shelf units. The doors at the bottom of the units conceal more storage - cases of loose figures, some loose vehicles (including two AT-ATs), etc. At lower left you can see the top of my Gentle Giant Vader, a present from my wife that re-sparked my vintage collecting hobby. Both the glass case and the Bestas are lit with LED strip lighting, which I really like. It's easy on the collectibles as well.

 

Opposite that on the far wall, there's another IKEA case with ships and models displayed on top. At centre there's a French copy of Stephane Faucourt's great new book, "La French Touch", which I helped him with. On the shelves at left are my other Star Wars reference books.

 

Upstairs in my office, behind the desk at which I'm typing this, I keep my ALIEN stuff. The curio cabinet I've had forever and I keep the modern stuff from Super7 in there. Below that there's the awesome original Kenner ALIEN figure, a copy of Giger's book, and two "eggs" from Super7 that a colleague picked up for me at SDCC 2014 (thanks Victor!)

The new vintage MOCs just fit in crosswise. I also have the "clear Alien" but he stays in the shipping case as there isn't room in the cabinet. On the lower shelf there's the "Early Bird Kit" and the two "salesman samples" from SDCC 2013, as well as two egg figures from this year's Comicon. I've written a lengthy blog post on the new vintage ALIEN stuff from Super7 - you can find it here.

I just love the Big Chap; if you want to read more about him click here. Giger's art books are frightening works of genius...

Well, there's the quick tour of my collection. The Star Wars stuff is in the basement with minimal natural light incursion so I'm not overly worried about degradation. The ALIEN stuff, however, is upstairs in my office with a large south-facing window. I've addressed this issue by having UV film professionally applied to the window. It looks great (that is to say, you don't notice it at all) and does the job - blocks almost all UV as well as reducing heat considerably. I recommend that everybody look into a solution like this if you have to store stuff where natural light abounds.

I hope it's inspirational!

Vintage-Style ALIEN 3-3/4" Figures from Super7 Arrive!

 

Yesterday I was having my lunch when the courier truck pulled up. Out popped a mailman and handed me a package that had been a long time in coming...

Back in the Spring of 2013, it was announced that Super7 would be starting production of new 3-3/4" ALIEN action figures "based on" the old unproduced Kenner prototypes. The Internets were abuzz... reactions from ecstasy to nerd-rage with nary a moderate view to be found. Some were excited about finally seeing vintage-style toys produced for this iconic property (the only "toy" actually retailed in-period having been the large-size Alien); others were outraged that commencement of production would somehow devalue the precious remaining pre-production and prototype figures from the late-'70s. Me, I don't see how producing new toys can have a devaluing effect on pre-prods and protos for a line that was never made. If anything, I thought that commencement of new production would increase interest in the unproduced vintage line and maybe even spike values. But what do I know...

Anyway, Super7 marketed the Hell out of the property and did it in very clever ways. At the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, they sold "early-bird kits" that mimicked Kenner's originals for Star Wars. This was essentially pre-paying for the set of five figures - Dallas, Ripley, Kane in spacesuit, Ash and the Alien - for delivery later in the year. Although I didn't get to SDCC in person myself, a very kind work colleague did and this is what he brought me back...

The Early Bird Package envelope

Reverse of envelope

Contents of the Early Bird package

Super7 also offered a very cool "salesman sample" kit with unpainted "prototypes" of Kane and the Alien. These were available at the Super7 booth at SDCC, in limited quantities. As you might have expected, these sold out quickly (to both fans and scalpers), but were available afterwards on the "secondary market"...
 

"Salesman Sample" promotional box

Reverse of box

Note included in the box - pretty funny stuff :-)

Kane "sample" - unpainted

 

Helmet is removable

The Big Chap

Clear dome is removable - inner jaws are movable

Subsequent to all of this, Super7 partnered with Funko on the project, and this development enabled the company to scale up their production numbers significantly, and even reduce the price of the set. As the Internets again exploded with nerd-rage - remember, the new price is less than people paid for their pre-orders - Super7 offered pre-orderers the chance to cancel for a refund if they wanted. For those who didn't cancel, Super7 offered a "secret bonus figure" and the chance to get the figures on blue "vintage style" cards (regular cardbacks would be produced in black). Needless to say I maintained my pre-order status...

Fast forward to yesterday, and the production figures finally arrive:

Ash. Unfortunately Ian Holm, the actor who so brilliantly portrayed the character, apparently refused to grant Super7 permission to use his likeness on the packaging. Lame.

All six figures have identical cardbacks.

Ripley. Very "vintage style" in that she looks pretty mannish. Of course anyone who's seen the last 10 minutes of the film knows that Sigourney Weaver is anything but "mannish"...

Paint app on the face makes her look a bit cross-eyed.

Captain Dallas! My favourite (obviously).
 

Kane in space suit. Paint app on this figure is very good. The unpainted "proto" really doesn't do the sculpt justice.

  

 The Alien. An excellent sculpt, very cool figure indeed.

 

The bonus "Clear Alien", derived from an original production concept for the film. Apparently technical limitations prevented the SFX department from producing this look for the movie.

A nice little note included in the shipping box (shown in the first photo of the post). Nice to know we pre-orderers are appreciated...

Well, there you have it. Wave One of the new ALIEN figures. Personally, I really have little to no interest in any action figures but vintage Star Wars, but ALIEN is one of my favourite movies ever and the vintage styling of these toys just sucked me right in... and I suspect I'm not alone. I hope this post will be helpful to those other collectors who are interested in the line, as a photo reference of the production figures as well as a brief history of how they were marketed. 

Kenner Alien 18" Action Figure Spotlight and Restoration

By 1978, 20th-Century Fox knew that their Star Wars property was a money-spinner like no other movie before. Science fiction was HOT and studio execs were anxious to get their hands on any kind of project they could find to leverage this trend.

So it was a natural for Fox to greenlight Alien. Directed by journeyman Ridley Scott, the film became an instant classic and a cinematic icon, spawning several spinoffs and sequels and generating millions for the studio.

But while Star Wars generated cubic money through merchandising tie-ins, Alien didn't. The film really wasn't "toyetic" in the way that Star Wars was, but nevertheless Kenner obtained a licence for the property and produced one toy - a large-size (18") action figure. While not popular in its day, the toy itself has become iconic among Alien collectors and toy fans for its audacity - a figure for kids, based on an R-rated movie that kids weren't allowed to see, in a scale that no other toy used, absolutely faithful to the hideous visions of a weird Swiss artist, of a character that exuded a sheer otherworldly horror. A natural fit for the toy aisle!

Having said this, the story that the toy was "recalled" for being inappropriate isn't true either... in fact the figure was a poor seller, and was finally blown out in remainder bins. Only later did collectors discover it, and demand has caused prices to rise to the level seen today - a nice loose example can run $200-300 with figures in boxes fetching up to $1,000.

Although I'm a relatively recent convert to Alien fandom, I've been aware of this toy as a collector for some time. As I'm a Giger fan as well, this is a must-have. The figures are available on eBay from time to time and that's where I found mine - fortunately complete with the clear cranial dome and all of his back spines intact.

The figure is remarkably faithful to Giger's vision. I'm still shocked that Kenner execs actually cleared the toy for production and thought it might sell. What parent would buy this for their 8-year old?!?!

Rear view showing the rubbery back spines and the plastic central dorsal spine - this is often broken.

The tail is a separate piece that locks into the body with a serrated washer on the inside of the figure.

Detail of head. The paint application on the head glows in the dark - as if the figure wasn't creepy enough already.

With clear dome removed.

Here's the action feature - press up on the trigger (shown in photo below) - the spring-loaded jaw opens up and the inner jaws extend.

Here's the trigger that works the action feature. Copyright info is on this piece also but is not entirely visible!

The often-missing clear dome piece. Apparently it comes in a "smoked" variation as well. As one might imagine, the piece was easily lost by kids and is comparatively rarely seen today.

Unfortunately the figure I obtained did have some (undisclosed) issues - as commonly happens with these figures, the rubber loops that hold the arms had been lost and the arms were held together inside the body with a limp bungee elastic. Not acceptable!

So I devised a repair that somewhat replicates the original fastening, while being pretty easy to install and reversible in the (admittedly unlikely) event that the original rubber fasteners are ever reproduced.

I went to a local big box store and picked up some plumbing o-rings. I had some strong plastic tubing around the house already. I cut a short length of tubing - wider than the internal arm hole but not too wide. Cut a slit lengthwise in the tubing and insert the o-ring as shown.

Insert the tubing end into the arm hole...

Work it around so that the tubing lays crosswise across the hole and is held in place by the tension of the o-ring. Place the arm inside the body of the disassembled toy and loop the o-ring around the central post as with the original. Screw the body back together and you're done.

An alternate repair method with some great photos is here.

The Alien now occupies a shelf in my office along with a copy of the awesome "Giger's Alien" book. The cabinet above will hold the new set of Alien 3 3/4" figures from Super7 when they arrive; for now I'm keeping my Super7 "Early Bird Envelope" up there.